


Arrival

by Para



Series: Heterodyne [4]
Category: Girl Genius
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-12
Updated: 2016-03-12
Packaged: 2018-05-26 04:31:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6223933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Para/pseuds/Para
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Generals arrive in Beetleburg.  At least, the first three do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> Well this took me long enough!
> 
> This fic has been in progress for... hm, two months, roughly? Somewhere around there. So the series is not abandoned! Nor is Bad Plans, I just sometimes am _really slow_.
> 
> Admittedly there's nothing really new in this fic, but. New perspective at least!
> 
> [Radovana](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4676600/chapters/10892501) [Nikolayev](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4676600/chapters/12011681) and [Lyubo](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4676600/chapters/11045381) still belong to [Adiduck](http://archiveofourown.org/users/book_people/pseuds/adiduck), who is still putting up with me stealing jägers for 95% of fics I write. In my defense, they're way more fun this way.

Beetleburg was quiet, just beginning to stir as the jäger Generals and the Baron landed near its main gate. The guards were awake, in pristine uniform and posture by the gate, and opened it without delay. At least, not on their part; Klaus paused to stare at his flyer, then waved a pair of guards over to it before leading the way into the town. Another pair of guards fell in step behind them.

It was just as quiet inside as it seemed from outside. Goomblast could hear people moving in some of the houses, snoring in others, the occasional gasp as they passed. Khrizhan started grinning after the second time it happened, and Goomblast discretely kicked him. Klaus, Zog and the guards politely pretended not to have noticed.

There were guards on every corner, all human, in uniforms that were, as far as Goomblast could tell, all quite new. But humans did tend to be a bit easier on their uniforms than jägers were, which might be skewing Goomblast’s estimation. He didn’t see any of the townspeople yet, though he heard footsteps that he assumed to be them in other streets a few times.

No jägers were in evidence at first, but after Klaus led them through several streets, Goomblast could see why. Every jäger was clustered over a few blocks, sprawled in the streets and over the rooftops. He could hear them too, although they were unusually calm; only a few lighthearted fights, while most napped or talked.

The center of the jäger horde was a large building with _Clay Mechanical_ written on one side. It was a bit quieter near this building, the fights at least a block away and one nearby argument hushed. The jägers on its roof were more alert and less densely packed, with room to move. Heterodyning was barely audible, drifting out of what Goomblast assumed was the workshop, along with the clinging sounds of small pieces of metal being fitted together.

Goomblast had been warned. He still hadn’t been prepared. He took a carefully deep breath as Jorgi peered down at them from the rooftop, and Klaus opened a door into the house attached to the workshop.

Goomblast almost went into the house, then stopped and took a step back. Klaus, Zog and Khrizhan turned back, confused and curious, as Jorgi reappeared over the edge of the roof. “General?”

Goomblast counted quickly. “Ve need et least eight runners. Send dem in.”

“Yez sir,” Jorgi said. “Hyu vant more to go in if ve haff dem?”

“Yez, az long az dey fit in de house.” It would be much too unfair to send the runners away without letting them see the Heterodyne first, but delaying the message would only be cruel to the jägers everywhere else on the continent. Gkika would not forgive any unnecessary delays.

“Yez sir,” Jorgi repeated. A jäger landed on the ground behind Goomblast, but he ignored that. Jorgi seemed to have taken over leadership of the jägers in town quite effectively (which he might regret next time there were promotions), so there was no need for a general outside, and Goomblast could follow the others in.

The door led to a very tiny entryway; the four of them didn’t even all fit in it at the same time, and Goomblast’s elbows nearly brushed against the coats hanging on the walls. He could turn, at least, and did when he heard a third set of footsteps following him into the space, but it was only Viorel. One of the younger jägers and a runner, Goomblast remembered after a second as Viorel hesitated under his stare, not quite intimidated enough to slink off as his eyes flicked past Klaus’s guards and Goomblast to the door. Goomblast should have expected any runner that heard him to follow, really; would have if he’d thought about it. He nodded, then turned back around and followed Zog inside. Behind him, Viorel let out a relieved breath and followed the guards in.

The heterodyning was about equally loud in the kitchen that the entryway led to as it was outside, but less audible. The kitchen was full of other sounds and smells, and—yes, Punch and Judy. Punch glanced up from a hammer he was examining at the table to smile and wave at them. Judy was in the middle of making breakfast, and nodded to them from beside a counter covered in bowls, flour, sugar, eggs, butter, cream, cinnamon and spoons.

Klaus was already taking a seat at the table, and leaning over to look at the hammer. Punch noticed and offered it to him, pointing at where the head and handle joined and turning it, and Klaus hummed thoughtfully. Zog and Krizhan tested the chairs and sat as Klaus’s guards and Viorel took up spots against the wall.

“The chairs are quite solid, you won’t break them,” Judy said. “Although I’m not sure I can promise comfort.”

“Dis is qvite alright,” Goomblast said, and did not check the chair’s strength before he sat. It did indeed manage to support him without any apparent stress.

“Klaus sez hyu haff Master Bill’s daughter,” Zog said. Goomblast supposed that was fairly restrained for Zog and the circumstances, and also that Judy would probably dislike a fight in her kitchen.

“Agatha is… well, not precisely _sleeping_ ,” Judy said. “Sleep-fugueing, I suppose. She should be awake fairly soon.”

“She iz in a vorkshop?” Goomblast asked.

“Yes, Adam’s. He’s been a mechanic the last several years, she knows it well.”

“Adam?” Krizhan asked Punch, and he nodded before returning to the hammer.

“And I’ve been Lilith,” Judy said, mixing cinnamon into the dough.

“Ve thot hyu vos dead,” Khrizhan said. Judy still would not like them to fight in her kitchen, even if Krizhan was being impolite. There wasn’t a great deal of accusation in his tone, but the implication wasn’t hard to hear. “Ven hyu deed not return.”

“We thought about it,” Judy said calmly. “But Barry asked us to stay.”

“To guard his niece,” Klaus said.

“To _raise_ his niece,” Judy corrected.

“Master Bill’s und…?” Goomblast asked.

“Lucrezia,” Judy said, voice sharp. “And on the topic of _her_.”

Judy turned around, frowning. Punch and Klaus were frowning as well. A shiver crawled down Goomblast’s spine.

“Have you been told yet that she was the Other?”

Zog growled. Goomblast said, “Ve haff not,” carefully, like a new language.

“I really only got to say “Heterodyne” before we came down,” Klaus said. Goomblast considered punching him later for acting as though they wouldn’t have listened to anything as important as a Heterodyne’s consort being the Other, remembered that he couldn’t do that anymore, then remembered that a Heterodyne had been found so perhaps he could. He set the thought aside to consider later.

“Well,” Judy said, “she was. We don’t know what her goal was in destroying sparks—Barry theorized everything from ruling the continent to becoming a goddess to no plan at all—but we do know she intended to become immortal by transferring her mind down through a line of daughters.”

Zog was growling again. So were Khrizhan and Viorel. So was Goomblast, he realized. Klaus’s guards smelled nervous, but also angry.

“She’s most likely dead,” Klaus said, “but we can’t be certain, and since she was experimenting with mind transfer her mind is likely to still be out there even if her body isn’t.”

Judy picked the explanation back up. “We’ve had no incidents that seemed to be her or her servants since Barry found us, so we haven’t shared this with the jägers yet, but I assume you’ll want to consider it.”

Goomblast breathed in, slowly, and quieted his growl until it faded out. Khrizhan did the same; Zog’s growl cut off sharply. Viorel’s growl quieted, but kept swelling back up. Goomblast let him; this was something he should be angry about. “Vill she eksept a guard? All de time?”

“She didn’t object to Jorgi’s… modified squad,” Klaus said. “Though she wanted female jägers while she was sleeping.”

“If you don’t ask her,” Judy said, “I don’t think she would realize she could refuse.”

That was… not promising. A Heterodyne that could be guided with ignorance, that wouldn’t realize she _could_ do things, would not lead well. But she was a Heterodyne. And young Carson had raised his grandchildren well; even if this Heterodyne was unsuited to rule without guidance, the seneschals would ensure the next generation received the proper upbringing.

In the meantime, at least keeping her safe would be simpler.

The front door opened. Goomblast turned toward it as Khrizhan, Zog, and Viorel did; everyone else in the kitchen followed.

The door to the entryway opened, but it was jägers. Goomblast relaxed. Two more runners—three, as Sergiu peered over Mirela’s shoulder. They paused in the doorway, and Vilmos offered a questionable salute.

“In,” Khrizhan said. All three crowded in against the walls. Sergiu placed himself pointedly next to Viorel, and elbowed him. Viorel’s growling cut off with a startled hiss, and Sergiu leaned over to quietly demand what exactly he thought he was doing, growling at Generals. Viorel hissed an explanation back, and Sergiu growled too.

They would have to make sure the runners knew what to share and what to keep quiet about Lucrezia before they left, but for now Goomblast decided to let Viorel share what he knew. So long as the information didn’t get beyond the jägers there would be upset but no actual problems, and the entire army would need to be informed soon anyway. Goomblast turned back to the table as Judy moved over to the stove, and pulled a waffle iron down from the cabinet above it.

“You still have that?” Klaus sounded surprised.

“Of course. It still works quite well,” Judy said.

Punch gestured as if tightening something with a wrench, then held a hand flat over the table and lifted it higher, smiling.

“It does _not_ need improvement,” Klaus said, indignant. Punch grinned. Klaus’s expression shifted, thoughtful. “But I suppose I could refine the temperature distribution controls….”

“You can take it apart all you like _after_ I’ve finished cooking,” Judy informed him.

Klaus blinked at her. “But it would need to cool—”

“I suppose you’ll have to be patient, then.”

Punch tapped the table to get Klaus’s attention, held up a hand with the ends of all his fingers together, and opened them quickly. That gesture Goomblast could recognize; _spark_. Klaus looked chagrined.

“She vill need a guard,” Khrizhan said. “Qvickly.”

“Who iz guardink her now?” Zog asked.

Punch pointed up at the ceiling, then drew a circle in the air with his finger.

“Everyone on the roof,” Klaus translated.

“Und Rada und Kai,” Viorel added. “Kai vos not mit de first thirteen, she vanted gurls vile she vos sleepink.”

Fourteen guards, then. Goomblast considered who he’d seen on the roof. Of course there was the entire army now too, so designated guards would only become necessary if the Heterodyne chose to leave her home later in the day… and even then it was unlikely that any less than three quarters of the present jägers would follow her. Still, they should be organized soon.

“Dot iz enuff for now,” Khrizhan said. Goomblast nodded. Later in the day they could put together a temporary guard, and then finalize it in a week or two, when they had the entire army to draw from.

“Vot ken hyu tell os about her?” Khrizhan asked.

Punch smiled broadly, and repeated the gesture for spark with both hands.

“A strong spark?” Khrizhan asked. Punch nodded emphatically.

Odd, Goomblast thought. Even weak sparks weren’t likely to accept things they disliked from simply not realizing they could argue; in a strong spark, such meekness was almost unheard of. It would require investigation. Perhaps Gkika could approach her, if she didn’t open up to them.

“Very strong,” Klaus said. “She—hm. _Very_ strong.” He turned toward the stove. “Judy, I think you’ll enjoy this.”

“I can hear,” she said as she turned over the waffle iron. “But talk quickly, these will be done soon.”

“I _can_ talk and eat at the same time,” Klaus said.

“Not in my house, you won’t.”

Goomblast traded a glance with Khrizhan and Zog, and made a note to be careful about eating and speaking himself. Punch looked amused.

“Well,” Klaus said, “I originally came here to test Gilgamesh’s spark. I had given the university instructions to build a machine using an incorrect version of an obscure theory, to see if Gilgamesh would be able to discover why it didn’t work. She was standing rather far away when I heard her heterodyning, and I had completely forgotten, but she said there was something wrong with the theory.”

“The theory you made up to trick your son,” Judy said, disapproving.

“To test whether he could recognize the flaw, and whether he would say so,” Klaus corrected. “He would not rule well if he was too trusting of information from any source, or too easily intimidated to argue.”

Judy shook her head.

“I do believe he would have realized, had I actually _finished_ the explanation,” Klaus said. “But Miss Agatha realized even before I finished. _Very_ impressive.” He looked like he was about to spark again.

Goomblast didn’t know much about what sort of spark it would take to identify obscure theories, but he was willing to take Klaus’s word for it. A strong Heterodyne made far more sense than a weak one anyway. “Like her fadder?”

Klaus considered. “He knew the original theory, but if he didn’t… Bill would have figured it out, I think,” he said. “Barry too. But I would expect them both to need more time as well.”

More and more interesting, and more promising. Perhaps the new Heterodyne wouldn’t often be inclined to let things go without thinking.

Klaus had no more to share—just as well, as the first waffles were finished then and Judy set the plate in front of him, along with a cup of tea. While he ate, Judy and Punch told stories about the Heterodyne as she grew up. The child they described was… sweet, well-meaning, clumsy, easily distracted. Angry, Judy claimed as she set a plate of waffles and cup of tea in front of Zog, but not very well able to show it because of the locket’s effects. She explained about the locket, too, and Mirela growled in the background until Goomblast frowned at her. Judy seemed not to be very offended, since Mirela still got waffles and tea along with the other runners and Klaus’s guards, after everyone at the table had been fed. Goomblast was somewhat surprised Judy didn’t run out of dough; Klaus had had two more plates of waffles, and six more runners had come in as they talked. He was also slightly surprised she didn’t run out of kitchen, but it was getting quite crowded.

He assumed for a few seconds that the sound of a door opening was more runners, before realizing that it hadn’t come from quite the right direction.

By the time the Heterodyne walked into the kitchen with her pair of guards (Kai gave the runners slightly smug glances; Rada looked tired and irritated, which told Goomblast nothing) everyone but Judy was staring. She paused in the doorway, eyes flicking around the room and and a hesitant expression taking over her face. Nervous.

“Agatha, could you refill the teakettle for me?” Judy asked calmly.

“Oh—of course,” the Heterodyne said, and ducked past Vilmos and Horia to reach the stove. They both pressed themselves against the wall to let her by. Kai and Rada followed her, and picked their own spots against the wall nearby.

Another plate of waffles was ready by the time the tea kettle was filled, and the Heterodyne set the plate down in front of the remaining empty chair at the table. She started to sit down, paused, and started to turn away. Punch stopped her, standing up to put a hand on her arm and shaking his head, then giving her a gentle push back toward her chair before turning and walking out of the room himself. The Heterodyne sat, but didn’t touch her plate. Instead she looked around the table, eyes wide.

Zog and Khrizhan were giving him pointed looks, as if Goomblast would somehow have any idea what to do in a situation like this. He cleared his throat, and tried not to talk too loudly. “Hallo Miz Heterodyne. Hy iz General Goomblast. Dis iz General Zog und General Khrizhan.”

“Hallo,” they both said.

“Hello,” the Heterodyne said. “It’s nice to meet all of you.”

Goomblast had not encountered this level of banal politeness at any point between dealing with the Storm King’s entourage, and a select, formal few of Klaus’s employees. Goomblast hoped she wouldn’t mind that he, Khrizhan and Zog probably would not be able to keep it up. “Eet iz verra nize to meet hyu too.”

“Thank you.” There was a pause. Rada hauled Vilmos a step and a half over to where she’d been standing, glared at him, and walked out. Vilmos stood rigidly in place, staring intently at the Heterodyne.

The Heterodyne watched Rada leave with a slightly confused expression, then shrugged seemingly to herself, and began spreading blackberry jam on her waffles. She turned, surprisingly, to Vilmos. “I’m Agatha, if no one told you already. What’s your name?”

“Uh—” Vilmos managed to straighten up even further. “Vilmos, Mistress.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” she said.

She sounded like she actually meant it.

“Iz verra nize to meet hyu,” Vilmos said, blinking rapidly.

Agatha asked Sergiu next, and then Lyubo took the hint and introduced himself without being asked. The rest of the runners followed his lead. (Kai introduced herself as well, and Agatha blushed when she looked at her. Goomblast made a note to ask Kai about that later.)

She seemed to be genuinely interested in learning all their names, if also shy. Goomblast had no idea what to think.

By the time everyone—even Klaus’s guards—had introduced themselves Punch had returned with an extra chair, and the Heterodyne had started eating in tiny, carefully spaced bites that she had somehow always finished before an introduction ended and she responded to it. Goomblast had no idea how she managed it; no one said anything more than their name, rank, and how long they had been serving the Heterodynes, and most only gave their name.

She turned back to the table once everyone had been introduced, expression curious. Fortunately, Klaus stepped in then.

Unfortunately, all he said was, “the Generals were very eager to meet you.”

“Oh.” Her eyebrows pulled together, confused. “Was there… something you wanted?”

“They haven’t had a Heterodyne for twenty years,” Judy said, setting tea in front of Agatha. “I imagine most of what they want is to see that you’re real.”

“…Oh.” She set her fork down, and looked like she felt sorry for them. “Well, um. I’m here? I didn’t know until yesterday, I’m sorry.”

Goomblast had no idea how to respond to that. He cleared his throat. “Iz goot dot hyu know now.”

“Ye-e-es,” she said, eyes sliding between Klaus and Punch. “It is.”

Punch reached over and patted her shoulder apologetically. She sighed and picked the fork back up.

“Iz dere plans?” Khrizhan asked.

“We talked about some ideas,” Judy said, “but haven’t settled on specifics. It will take a while for us to pack up the house.”

“Und go vere?” Zog asked gruffly.

“Mechanicsburg,” Judy said. The Heterodyne nodded.

Goomblast sighed. About half the runners crowded into the kitchen cheered quietly. “Eet vill be verra goot to haff hyu beck.”

She looked worried again. “I hope so. I don’t know how to… rule anything. What is Mechanicsburg like?”

Goomblast didn’t think any Heterodyne ever _had_ been taught how to rule before, although he supposed many of them had at least had an example. That was not the part he was worried about. “Eet iz verra nize,” he said. “Und mekes de best yingerbread.”

“Oh, I’ll have to try that when we get there,” she said. She blinked. “Or, when I do. Are you going to go to Mechanicsburg too?”

“Ov cawse,” Khrizhan said. “Iz our home.”

She looked curious, but ate another bite of waffle instead of saying anything.

“Ven hyu fadder und oncle ven missink, ve mede a deal mit Klaus to vork for him,” Goomblast explained. “Part ov eet iz dot ve vill not enter de city ontil dere iz a Heterodyne again. Ve haff been on Kestle Wulfenbach inschtead.”

“Oh.” The Heterodyne blinked. “So you can go in now, right?”

“Technically, the deal ends and they’re allowed back in after you’re officially recognized as the Heterodyne,” Klaus said. “But very few people outside of the jägers know that detail, and I don’t suppose anyone who knows particularly cares.”

“Ve haff not been inside Mechanicsburg.”

“Only its _basements_.”

“Dere vos no deal about de basements,” Zog said.

“I don’t suppose anyone who knows particularly cares,” Klaus repeated. The Heterodyne giggled.

The house’s front door opened again. Goomblast thought it was more runners—it was crowded, but the more could be sent after wild jägers the better—but the footsteps were wrong, one set too uneven. He turned to the door with every other jäger—General or not—in the room. Punch, Judy, and the humans followed.

Jägers—Toma and Petru—came through the door first, Petru’s fist closed carefully around something. They edged to either side, and a scared-looking human was shoved into the doorway, both arms twisted behind his back and held by Rada.

“You!” The Heterodyne sounded angry, and her chair skittered back as she jumped up.

“Ve find him schneakink around near here,” Toma said.

Petru held up his hand, and opened it so the light bounced off a trilobite locket. “Und he hed dis.”

“My locket!” The Heterodyne sounded angrier. Rada chuckled and leaned forward to say something by the man’s ear. “He mugged me! He stole my locket! Well… I guess that’s been a good thing, but….” The Heterodyne still sounded annoyed, even as she trailed off thoughtfully. “Him _and_ his friend. Where’s _he_?”

The human was in a room with eighteen jägers, an angry Heterodyne, Punch and Judy, Klaus Wulfenbach, and two Wulfenbach guards. He looked like nothing special, smelled terrified, and still managed to glare at back at the Heterodyne. “You already took care of him, didn’t you?”

Rada twisted his arms further, and he cringed again.

“What are you talking about?” The Heterodyne was sounding more and more angry, and Heterodyne harmonics were steadily growing in her voice. “He hit me and took my locket, and you think _I’ve_ done something to _him_?”

Goomblast should, perhaps, be concerned that the Heterodyne had been attacked and had something stolen. Or angry.

On the other hand, she wasn't hurt, and he _really_ didn’t think it would be happening again.

The man sounded sullen. “You _killed_ him!”

“I did not!”

“Perhaps,” Klaus interrupted, “there may be a calmer way to sort this out?”

The man looked at Klaus and paled. The Heterodyne folded her arms and dropped back into her seat in a clear sulk. Good; it was nice to see she could be properly unhappy, even if she wasn’t ranting or particularly acting on it. She was still young; she might still grow into a more typical Heterodyne, especially with Mechanicsburg to encourage her….

“I don’t think he’ll be causing any trouble now if you let him go,” Klaus told Rada. Zog shook his head, Rada echoed him, and Klaus sighed. He turned to the Heterodyne instead. “If you could explain what happened in order, please, Miss Heterodyne?”

The man made a choked sound.

The Heterodyne’s explanation stayed angry, full of glares and harmonics. The actual events were quite boring; some sort of spark thing that interested Klaus, but the Mistress barged right past after referring to it, moving on to talk about stumbling into an alley and running into ex-soldiers who stole from her. The most interesting part was when she described hitting one of them with a beer bottle the other had been drinking from. They would need to be sure she was taught to fight, as well; she had the instincts for it.

The man’s story was defensive, sullen and afraid. He kept skipping nervous looks between the Heterodyne, Klaus, and all of the jägers. Punch, Judy, and the Wulfenbach guards he seemed less afraid of; in half of those cases, he had a chance of being right. He insisted that it had been his brother who stole from the Heterodyne, that he had tried to stop him. Disappointing, to shift trouble to a brother that way, but apparently truthful as the Heterodyne nodded sulkily in agreement. And, to be fair to him, unlikely to matter; he claimed his brother was already dead.

The Heterodyne and the Baron were apparently willing to consider his claim that the Heterodyne’s locket had killed the man’s brother, so Petru handed it to the Heterodyne—just in case she didn’t want a different spark taking apart her jewelry—she passed it to the Baron, Punch fetched appropriately sized tools, and they began taking it apart as Judy moved plates out of the way of a rapidly growing spread of very small parts.

And Heterodyning filled the room.

**Author's Note:**

> I spent most of two hours reading about the history and varieties of waffles for this. And then a particular type of bread. And then bread in general. And the history and development of waffle irons. And then I got distracted and came back a week later and had to do all the research again. Why is everything Klaus’s fault.
> 
> At some point thirty or forty years ago, Klaus—mostly jokingly—tried to demand having waffles for breakfast every morning. Judy claimed she would make waffles more often, but they were always rushing off to go somewhere or work on something in the mornings, and the waffle irons took a while to heat. Klaus, naturally, responded by inventing a waffle iron that would heat very quickly, and keep the temperature evenly distributed on the inside while keeping the outside relatively cool.
> 
> Klaus’s “obscure theory” is, in my mind, one that it’s relatively easy to piece together from information that most people are taught, but rarely taught itself simply because it’s hardly ever applicable to anything anyone does. So it would make a good test of a spark’s ability, because Klaus knows what the correct answer is, but Gil ought to have to figure it out himself. Klaus knows because he, Bill and Barry ended up using it during one of their adventures.
> 
> I also assume that Agatha’s spark is unheardof-strong in part because of the locket; as long as the locket was suppressing the spark the spark was also pushing back, and it didn’t break through but it did grow some. She’d have been spectacular anyway, of course, but the locket made her even more so.
> 
> Also, Agatha has not forgotten Kai's attempt to take off her shirt. I might decide she's bi _also_ , but that is not the current reason for blushing.


End file.
